July 17, 2025: Ukrainian private energy sector investor DTEK and Fluence have started commissioning a 200MW BESS in the country.
DTEK said on July 10 the BESS is the largest such project of its kind in Ukraine to date.
Gridstack is Fluence’s proprietary lithium iron phosphate utility-scale system.
A total of nearly 670 Gridstack cubes with batteries have been installed at six sites, each one with a capacity of between 20-50MW.
Collectively, they are able to store 400MWh of electricity — enough to power 600,000 Ukrainian homes for two hours, DTEK said.
Under a contract with grid operator Ukrenergo, commercial operations are set to begin this October — in time for the start of Ukraine’s crucial winter heating season.
The BESS project was announced at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome earlier this month and marks the first major energy project to be delivered since the signing of the US-Ukraine Economic Partnership Agreement in April.
Once fully operational, the systems will provide frequency and power reserve as well as balancing services to reinforce Ukraine’s grid.
CEO of DTEK Maxim Timchenko said the BESS was proof of the country’s determination to build back stronger as the war with Russia continues.
“We’re taking an important step towards a more secure and resilient energy system of Ukraine,” he said.
Fluence CEO Julian Nebreda said the project involved a remote commissioning approach to ensure continuity and operational efficiency amid travel restrictions. The model could be used to enable faster scaling of any future projects, he said.
As part of the project, 20 Ukrainian power engineers and operations specialists completed advanced training on Fluence’s existing projects in Germany and Finland.
DTEK said the training prepared them to manage the energy storage systems safely and independently, respond to emergencies and quickly resolve potential malfunctions.
Fluence will continue to support commissioning and operations of the project remotely through diagnostics, testing and performance monitoring to ensure safe and efficient deployment in wartime conditions.
